Novak Djokovic got back to doing what he does best on Monday when he steamrollered French Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 6-1, 6-2 at the Rod Laver Arena in the opening round of the Australian Open.

Having come through two weeks of quarantine in Adelaide, and a brief but damaging spat with his hosts over the terms of the isolation, the world No.1 let his tennis do the talking as he eased to a 297th Grand Slam match victory.

Nick Kyrgios did his best to create his own atmosphere in a subdued John Cain Arena as he cruised into the second round with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 victory over qualifier Frederico Ferreira Silva.

Sixth seed Alexander Zverev overcame an inconsistent start to battle past unheralded American Marcos Giron 6-7 (8-10), 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, 6-2.

After losing a first-set tiebreak, Zverev went up an early break in the second and was serving for the set at 5-3 when Giron broke him, prompting the German player to smash his racket in frustration and pick up a code violation in the process.

Dominic Thiem was relieved to find form when it counted as he fended off Mikhail Kukushkin 7-6 (7-2), 6-2, 6-3 after piecemeal preparations ahead of the Grand Slam.

“Yeah, definitely I felt nerves because it was a long time until the Slam, more than three weeks from when we arrived in Adelaide,” said Thiem, who quarantined in the South Australia state capital.

Serena Williams put on a vintage display of power tennis to ease into the second round with a 6-1, 6-1 drubbing of Germany’s Laura Siegemund. She admitted to some concern with a shoulder injury which forced her to withdraw from her warm-up tournament last week.

“I was happy just to get through it,” she told reporters.

“Wasn’t sure how my serve would be after a little bit of that shoulder, but it’s feeling good.”

Three-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-1, 6-2.

“Physically I feel like everyone, their bodies are shocked, coming in and playing so suddenly after such a long break,” Osaka said.

Second seed Simona Halep opened her campaign with a businesslike 6-2, 6-1 demolition of local wildcard Lizette Cabrera.

Former champion Angelique Kerber made an early exit and said spending two weeks in hard quarantine had contributed to her first-round loss. American Bernarda Pera ousted the 2016 Australian Open champion 6-0, 6-4 in little more than an hour on the first morning of the tournament.

“Of course, you feel it if you are not the hitting ball for two weeks and you are not in the rhythm,” Kerber told reporters after her earliest exit from Melbourne Park for six years.